In 1533 cakes, comfits, wine, ale and cheese were distributed at The Trinity Guild of Coventry for the obiit of their alderman Nicholas Burwey.
|
|
A member of the house brings back the mirror to the party and gifts them with comfits, halva and other food stuff especially prepared for Nowruz.
|
|
Good & Plenty is a similar candy available in the United States. Similar sweets are known as liquorice comfits in the United Kingdom, and a liquorice- flavoured sweet called Torpedoes made by Haribo appears to be similar.
|
|
By the 16th century, a cumfit was more specifically a seed, nut or small piece of spice enclosed in a round or ovoid mass of sugar. The production of comfits was a core skill of the early confectioner, who was known more commonly in 16th and 17th century England as a comfitmaker. Reflecting their original medicinal purpose, however, comfits were also produced by apothecaries and directions on how to make them appear in dispensatories as well as cookery texts. An early medieval Latin name for an apothecary was confectionarius, and it was in this sort of sugar work that the activities of the two trades overlapped and that the word "confectionery" originated.
|
|
Russian prunes in chocolate with an almond in the middle Prunes are used in preparing both sweet and savory dishes. Contrary to the name, boiled plums or prunes are not used to make sugar plums, which instead may be nuts, seeds, or spices coated with hard sugar, also called comfits.
|
|
"Plum" in the name of this confection does not always mean plum in the sense of the fruit of the same name, but commonly refers to small size and spherical or oval shape. Traditional sugar plums often contained no fruit, but were instead hardened sugar balls. These hardened sugar balls were comfits, and often surrounded a seed, nut, or spice.
|
|
A cookbook from 1609, Delights for Ladies, describes boiling fruits with sugar as “the most kindly way to preserve plums.” The term sugar plum was applied to a wide variety of candied fruits, nuts, and roots by the 16th century. The term sugar plum came into general usage in the 17th century. During that time, adding layers of sweet which give sugar plums and comfits their hard shell was done through a slow and labor-intensive process called panning.
|
|
They can be eaten with sweet or savoury toppings and are sometimes confused with Bath buns, which are smaller, round, very sweet and very rich. They were associated with the city following The Great Exhibition. Bath buns were originally topped with crushed comfits created by dipping caraway seeds repeatedly in boiling sugar; but today seeds are added to a 'London Bath Bun' (a reference to the bun's promotion and sale at the Great Exhibition). The seeds may be replaced by crushed sugar granules or 'nibs'.
|
|
"Fairings" was originally the common name for edible souvenirs sold at fairs around England. Although at Bartholomew Fair in Smithfield, fairings of gingerbread were sold from 1126 to 1800, fairings would vary throughout the country — in the northern counties a traditional fairing would be decorated "paste eggs" at Easter. The Cornish version included the spiced ginger biscuit which became famous in Victorian times. The complete fairing from Cornwall would include the ginger biscuit, along with almond and caraway comfits (colloquially "lambs' tails" - actually sugar-coated almonds and caraway seeds), crystallised angelica and macaroons.
|
|
165 geese and 163 pullets were purchased, most from peasant farmers, as raising poultry was not a common feature of manor houses. In 1560 at an annual feast for the Master of the Worshipful Company of Skinners where "all was welcome" to partake of the "grett plenty", there was marmalade, comfits, and fruit - Portuguese oranges, cherries, strawberries and "pippins". London's Lord Mayor William Harpur attended the Master Grocers' feast in 1561, where three stags and eight bucks, a luxury usually available only to the noble classes, were served for the exclusive pre-banquet lunch.
|
|
Like most medieval social and community gatherings, shared food and drink were a feature of many obiit vigils. Guilds gathered for the obiit vigils of their members and benefactors, and shared food and drink were common place at these gatherings. Bread, cheese and ale were given out in the guild chapel at an obiit held in 1442 for the parker of Fulbrook (meaning park-keeper in Middle English) at the guild of the Holy Cross at Stratford-upon-Avon. In 1533 cakes, comfits, wine, ale and cheese were distributed at The Trinity Guild of Coventry for the obiit of alderman Nicholas Burwey.
|
|
Depiction by Arthur Rackham, 1907 In this passage Lewis Carroll incorporated references to the original boating expedition of 4 July 1862 during which Alice's Adventures were first told, with Alice as herself, and the others represented by birds: the Lory was Lorina Liddell, the Eaglet was Edith Liddell, the Dodo was Dodgson, and the Duck was Rev. Robinson Duckworth. In order to get dry after a swim, the Dodo proposes that everyone run a Caucus race – where the participants run in patterns of any shape, starting and leaving off whenever they like, so that everyone wins. At the end of the race, Alice distributes comfits from her pocket to all as prizes.
|
|
Adamson (2004), p. 110. Like their Muslim counterparts in Spain, the Arab conquerors of Sicily introduced a wide variety of new sweets and desserts that eventually found their way to the rest of Europe. Just like Montpellier, Sicily was once famous for its comfits, nougat candy (torrone, or turrón in Spanish) and almond clusters (confetti). From the south, the Arabs also brought the art of ice cream making that produced sorbet and several examples of sweet cakes and pastries; cassata alla Siciliana (from Arabic qas'ah, the term for the terracotta bowl with which it was shaped), made from marzipan, sponge cake and sweetened ricotta and cannoli alla Siciliana, originally cappelli di turchi ('Turkish hats'), fried, chilled pastry tubes with a sweet cheese filling.
|
|
Feasts were commonly used to commemorate the "procession" of the crowned heads of state in the summer months, when the king or queen would travel through a circuit of other nobles' lands both to avoid the plague season of London, and alleviate the royal coffers, often drained through the winter to provide for the needs of the royal family and court. This would include a few days or even a week of feasting in each noble's home, who depending on his or her production and display of fashion, generosity and entertainment, could have his way made in court and elevate his or her status for months or even years. Special courses after a feast or dinner which often involved a special room or outdoor gazebo (sometimes known as a folly) with a central table set with dainties of "medicinal" value to help with digestion. These would include wafers, comfits of sugar-spun anise or other spices, jellies and marmalades (a firmer variety than we are used to, these would be more similar to our gelatin jigglers), candied fruits, spiced nuts and other such niceties.
|
|